Viola Davis Opens Up to Jimmy Kimmel About Getting Injured During a Sex Scene

The magic of a great sex scene lies mostly in the audience’s ignorance as to how exactly the scene was filmed, as technical details are decidedly not sexy. However, for How to Get Away With Murder star Viola Davis, there’s even more to the story behind a recent intimate encounter with co-star Billy Brown: an embarrassing back injury.

"We really went for it," Davis told Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday’s show. "I said, 'Listen, I’m always playing a maid, I’m always gaining 40 pounds for a role. I want to be sexy! I’m pulling out all the stops!'" Sadly, says Davis, pulling out all the stops resulted in the award-winning actress throwing her back out.

According to Davis, the entire production process behind the fateful scene was very unsexy indeed. "The director said 'Slam her up against the wall, and then really go for it, pull your pants down,'" Davis recounted to Kimmel. "He slams me up against the wall. Six people are behind the wall, holding it up. That thing is shaking. It sounds sexy but it really wasn't."

Davis, in an interview with Vanity Fairlast month, also recalled a very different type of story-worthy experience from her days on the Suicide Squad set. "[Jared Leto] did some bad things," Davis revealed. "He gave some really horrific gifts." According to Davis, Leto once had a henchman bring a dead pig into the rehearsal room as a greeting: "Talk about commitment."